Using git stash

Saving code for later use with git stash is one of my favorite features of git. Stashing code allows me to save an idea without making a commit. I often find myself stashing code while trying out ideas or performing a big refactor. My only dislike about using git stashis that I often forget why I stashed the code in the first place. This is where git stash save comes into save the day.

The power of git stash save

Similar to git commit -m using git stash save adds a brief description that provides better context to a stash it’s applied to. When assigning a normal stash the only available identifier is the stash ID which isn’t very descriptive. Instead I like to use the git stash save which allows me to add a string to each stash.

How to use git stash save

After making changes I run the following command in the terminal and replace out the text inside of the quotations with a meaningful description.

git stash save "Descriptive text"

Then when I’m ready to reference this stash again, I run git stash list followed up git stash apply and the ID of the stash I would like to open.

Example Scenario

Assuming that I’ve already made some stashes using git stash save on a repo. First, I’ll want to reference my stashes using git stash list. This will display all of the stashes I’ve created and display any of the descriptions I created previously with git stash save.

This is what my CL displays after running git stash list.

stash@{0}: WIP on master: 3b95319 Added first blog.
stash@{1}: WIP on master: 24059fc Made various tweaks to layout component.

After that, I’ll copy the ID of the stash I want to apply. In this case, I’ll apply the second option using git stash apply stash@{1}. This will apply the code from my stash to the current head of whatever branch I’m checked into. After that my changes are applied and I’m ready to continue where I left off.